As part of our now annual convention, I boarded a redeye Qatar Airways flight destined for Doha last night. The flight was uneventful, but I was reminded of why I still preferred Singapore Airlines over other airlines. Qatar Air was actually not too bad - its television screens were much larger than what you'd find on SQ Business and the bed was a straight incline - close to a flat bed that you will not find in most SQ flights barring the newer ones. However, service was the key - not only did Qatar not have the camomile tea that I was accustomed to, service was also quite slow - when I woke up from my sleep and wanted some water for example, I ended up waiting quite a long while for water.

My first impressions of Qatar was that it was a rather efficient place. The airport clearance was really quite quick and it was a breeze to get a limo from the airport to the hotel.

The Sharq Village Ritz Carlton did not disappoint. It was a low-rise propery about 1 plus years old and from the facade, looked like a big compound of low-rise buildings. Inside, the compound consisted of two very nice pools and was next to a beach. There was also a nice gym that was open 24 hours.

My friend Z commented that when she went to the Souk the other day, the local folks were looking her up and down which made her feel very uncomfortable. Having heard that, I was glad that Eve did not come here cos she would eventually have needed to go out of the hotel potentially alone. Perhaps it would have been much better at the city centre shopping malls and not the souk, but oh well, perhaps a case of sour grapes. :)

Overall, Day 1 was tiring - once landed, started planning for Conventon and had no time for a swim. To the extent, I squeezed in a half an hour of gym time only after dinner which made me feel more confortable.

Time to go rest for now...